Saturday, May 7, 2011

What. A. Week!

We have had quite a week over at our house! It all started Monday. I worked Monday morning 8-12, went home for lunch and nap time, and then back to work at 3. I knew Harper was acting more tired than usual, but I really didn't think anything of it. We walked into work, I put her down, and she threw up. A lot. She cried the whole time I was cleaning her up which isn't like her at all. She is usually a pretty calm kid. She felt a little warm but nothing to really worry about. I took her temperature, and sure enough, she was running a fever. I don't remember what it read at that point. We headed home, and she fell asleep before we even made it out of the parking lot and then almost 4 more hours once we got home. I definitely knew something was up! I took her into the doctor Tuesday afternoon because her fever was sitting at 103.8 and not budging with Tylenol.

The doctor was worried it may be a UTI, so they cathed her (horrible!) for a urine sample and sent us home with a prescription for Phenergen and instructions to force the Pedialyte. We started alternating Tylenol and Motrin on top of that once we got home, but as soon as the meds wore off, the high fever was back.

Fast forward to Wednesday evening (I thought we were on the up hill because her fever broke that afternoon)...I picked up a shift Wednesday from 6-9 and went grocery shopping after. When I got home, Michael said she had eaten fine and kept it down. I went in to check on her and noticed her drinched in sweat. I took her temperature, and it read 106 on the dot. Surely that wasn't correct. I scanned again....105.8...and again...106.1. Holy crap (sorry Mom). I checked again with an ear thermometer and also with a digital one under the arm. They were all the same. Crap.

I called my sister to see if her husband (pedi doc) was awake. He wasn't, but she said we should take her in. If nothing else, it would ease our minds. I started crying and decided to call the nurse before we rushed off to the hospital. She was a complete (not so nice word). First, she tried to make me feel incredibly dumb by saying she couldn't possibly have that high of a fever because she doesn't believe the temporal scanners are accurate. After I told her that I had already taken it with TWO different ones in addition to the first, she had me do it AGAIN while I was on the phone with her. I took it under her arm, and the nurse kept saying..."well, what is it?" It was over 104 at this point and still going up. Her recommendation was a cool bath. Did I mention she was a moron? Yes, I realize the cool bath was a good idea, but she had no interest in helping my emotional state!

Since Michael had taken Tylenol PM before I even got home from the grocery store, I decided to wait it out through the night. She (and I) had a pretty rough night of being miserable, so I took her back to the doctor Thursday morning. They did some blood work and sent us home. The nurse called a little later and said her white blood cell count was low but more than likely just indicated a virus. She slept for most of the day.

She started to act like herself again of Friday. Her temperature was around 100, and she finally had an interest in eating and playing. I HAD to get out of the house, so we ran a few errands. That evening, we noticed a rash on her torso and neck. Today it's SO much worse. It's a lot worse on her neck and torso but moved up to her face and behind her ears (which has seemed to bother her the most). Tonight I lathered her up with calamine lotion and put her to bed.
After reading about roseola (thank you, Facebook friends!), I'm about 99.9% sure that's what she had.

I'm really sad we won't make it to church in the morning for Mother's Day, but at least I get to spend the day with the two people who made me a mom! I think I am more exhausted than I was when she was a newborn!

Smiling but looking pretty puffy and pitiful
Taking a moment to read while her fever was at a lower point
There was a lot of this.
Poor baby covered in calamine lotion
After this last picture, I put her hair down and combed it back. She looked a little like David Bowie. Just imagine the slicked-back hair and paint streaks on the cheekbones. Awesome.

...I don't feel like proofreading. Deal with it.

2 comments:

Fabulous Family of Five! said...

Being a Mom isthe most challenging but most rewarding job in the world!! Hope Harper is better soon & you have a fabulous Mother's Day! :)

Jamie said...

aww i am so sorry you had such a hard week! praying that miss harper is feeling much better today! happy mother's day!